Sunday, March 31, 2013

Nimble Quest: Bring Back the Snake Game Memories

Nimble Quest, from Nimble Bit brings back my memories about old snake game. Last time, I played the snake game was 11 or 12 y.o. A bit long time ago since my last played. Back to the iOS, I knew if there're many kind of snake games on iOS. However, it just doesn't impress me. I just think about other games with modern gameplay ,idea, style, graphic, new genre, etc. Actually, I really love to play new games, but I'm not a kind of person who's easily to hook with a game. I have so many games on my iPad, but only few of them which I played everyday. I need to get the feeling... #lmao, the sense of the game to really enjoy it, that's why I only have few games which long lasting stay on my iPad.. :) #ps: moreover, some of them , I haven't played it yet. Only bought , n kept it... I bought them mostly caused by Sale... or hooked by the screen shots... But, don't have enough time to play them or may be bit lost of interest after buying @.@ dunno why (#sad)

Alright alright, never mind it. Nimble quest is a game which has similar gameplay with old snake game. Actually, before Nimble Quest was launched, iOS already has Call of Snake with the same gameplay. So, what's make this game different from Old Snake Game? (I won't compare this game with CoS)
- Nimble Quest has RPG setting elements. You can play as archer, knight, wizard, mage, etc. The snake here is made by the characters ( archer, slasher, bomber, etc).
Each character has different skills, you can upgrade it by pay with some gems, or defeat your enemies to upgrade your skill. Unlike , the regular snake gameplay. The snake here ( Nimble Quest) is limited long. The most long is 15 characters only. However, the long number of your snake is depend by how much stage you have been conquered. In the first time, you will play as knight only. After you unlock more character , you can choose which one to be your leader.

- The gameplay is similar like snake gameplay, don't hit your enemies or walls. Luckily, the snake here can automatically attacks the enemies. How they defeat the enemies are depend by your characters's skill. I'll post some tips and trick how to play Nimble Quest later Tips n Tricks here...
If regular snake's game use fruits for growing. Here, you can get more characters randomly after defeat some enemies, also some part of your snake can be defeated, but it doesn't affect your snake as long as your leader keeps alive.

- Collect gems, and tokens during the game. Gems are used for upgrading the power ups or your characters. Tokens are used to play in the arena (bring the name of your guild... Yeah!) or you can use tokens to replay the current stage when you dead.
Tokens can be get during the gameplay or buy it from IAP or by watching 10 seconds ads video ;)

Graphic: 4/5 (Clear pixelated graphic)
Sound/ Music: 4/5 (Nostalgic, I remember Mario Bross when I listened to the victory music here.
Gameplay: 4/5 (Swipe control is good enough, great to played on portrait also landscape view. A remake of old game with modern features... :D. However, there's no checkpoint. So, the game is kinda similar with endless game but in stages steps. However, it's still challenging enough, though sometimes kinda boring to repeat the same stage from the beginning :P )
Replay Value: 4/5 ( it's great to be played even if you only has 5 minutes spare time ;) )
Overall: 4/5
(Despite of being a freemium game, Nimble Quest is good enough to brings back the old memories of Snake game with some RPG elements (here is the characters). However, if NimbleBit can brings the new features in the next update, like online multiplayer as both side (enemies also heroes). I believe this game will be more hilarious to be played.. :)
Ps: Only few days since the official released, n the players almost 500.000 players right now... A great beginning ... :D

AppStore Link: Download Nimble Quest for iOS


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Top 3 Apps for Tracking AppStore

Everybody loves sale. May be yes, may be no ;) but I love sale... App sale, yeah.. Especially , when it was an app which on your wishlist who's going on sale or may be goes free.. However, when our lovely wishlist apps will go free or on sale?
Right now, I will post the most 3 apps which I think really useful and helpful to track sale on App Store .

AppZapp


The most main app to track sale on AppStore. It has many features, such as price alert, update alert, news alert, until seller alert. Never miss any bargain apps by using this app. FYI , I've tried this app and I've safe my money about more than $300 (counted from downloading apps when gone free). A surprisingly saving right? :p
This app is really great. I don't think you will need to jailbreak your device anymore if you have this app. However, there's one thing that all of you must know if you use this app: "Patient" , yeah, patient is the main key, if you want to save your money like I did, you need to be patient. You must waiting about may be 1 week, 1 month, or can be a year for an app goes free.. ;)
Can't be patient...? Just buy it when your wishlist app goes to sale. AppZapp gives price alert feature to set on which currency you want to be alert. As example: an app is cost $3.99, use the price alert button, then set to currency that you want, as example you want to get notification while the app drops price till $0.99. So, when the app drops till $0.99, a push notification will pop up for letting you know about it. Also, you might get an email notification about it.


Plus thing from AppZapp:
- Banned Seller feature
If you don't want to be bothered by annoying apps from a 'annoying' seller, just use this feature
- Seller Alert
I love this feature, currently I'm subscribed to big developers, so I'll never miss any apps from them anymore. You can choose which kind of alert do you want. There're price alert (never miss any bargain from this seller), news alert ( never miss new apps anymore.. Yes!) , or update alert ( alert for an updating app, for this one I prefer to subscribe manually from the app rather than the seller ;) )
- Community
This feature can be good too. Too lazy to read review on AppStore ? Or afraid of fake review on AppStore ? Share your thought and opinion about the app here on comment site. AppZapp Community can be so helpful sometimes, some people share about review, opinion about the app on here. This will help you decide to buy the app or not. Don't understand the language they used? Don't worry, a translate button will help you to translate into your own language :)
- Global Filter
Sort the sale apps which you want by using this feature . For example: I only want iPad app, using English language, and show all apps (not only popular), and selected categories.
You can choose which suitable for your main necessity.
- Price drop alert
The main feature of this app, I think :)
Set your desire price on your wishlist app. Just be patient for waiting if you want get the app with that desired price ;D
- New App, etc








AppShopper


Beside AppZapp, I also use AppShopper, it's mostly has the same features as AppZapp, but it doesn't have community feature. Anyway, for using the features properly, you need to register using your email address or Facebook account. Sometimes AppShopper has more bargain apps than AppZapp. Also it related directly to iOS review sites like TouchArcade or 148apps. You can see the review site's score directly. Though AppZapp also has this feature too, but for me, AppShopper did the UI for rating star better than AppZapp did.









AppTicker


Similar with others, but it has color themes to choose. Unfortunately, this app only support some major AppStore only. (Indonesia hasn't supported yet)

Overall, the most recommended is AppZapp, but I also use others as companion apps.
The best thing, some of them (Pro Version) are still free. :)
So grab your free copy now and never miss sale anymore... :D

Friday, March 22, 2013

Vegetarian... Why Not?

I just wanna share my impression about being a vegetarian. I don't understand why some people keep saying something non-sense consequence about being a vegetarian. My friend said, she can't being a vegetarian caused her family are afraid about her growth. Hmm, I don't think so. Come on.... Let's clear this opinion.

via kidshealth.org

What is Vegetarian?

Vegetarian, is kind of diet method   No, I won't say that it's a diet method, I prefer say being a vegetarian is a life style. A life style that you don't eat any food which contain meat, seafood or anythig that related to animal products. To be honest , there are many kinds of vegetarianism, such as Ovo vegetarianism (eat such as egg product but not dairy product, Lacto vegetarianism (eat such as dairy product but not egg product), Vegan (doesn't eat any egg, dairy, honey and anything which comes from animal), Buddhist Vegetarianism (For this one, I'll tell from Maitreya Buddhism's point of view. In here, there's 3 steps of vegetarian. First is learning, in the learning part. You still allowed to eat allium family (garlic, onion, shallots, chives, scallions, etc), egg products (biscuits, cakes) and dairy products (milk). The second part, you'll learn to avoid any of allium family products, less eggs and less dairy product. The last part is try to become a vegan).

via fanpop.com

Why vegetarian?

I've been a vegetarian since I was 11 y.o. FYI, before i learned to being a vegetarian. I dislike any kind of vegetables. Seriously... I hate any kind vegetables especially green vegetables. Its tasted weird on my tongue.. :p

Till one day, my mom gave me green eggplant to be eat. I tried it, then I realised that's delicious.. :). Since then I tried to eat more vegetables, I tried to eat no meat twice a week for the first 6 months, 3 times a week for next 6 months, and keep on till finally I don't eat any meat or animal (fish, seafood, etc) anymore or I can say that finally, I can be a vegetarian. Yeah , may be I'm still in the first part on learning part, I still eat onion, eggs, and milk product. If you ask the reason why I can being a vegetarian... Let me tell you then..

Simply, the main reason is a love. Everybody, No every creature has a main right is called Life, which it's a gift from God. You have family right? Animal also has family. How do you feel if you lost one of your family members? Sad, pain right? Animal also has the same feel as us. It can feels sad, pain, angry, afraid. However, what can they do? When they see us (human) took one of their family, they're become angry, they will do strange movements also some of them scream on their own languages also cry, but we don't know it. We think they're angry to us (Yeah, that's true if they're angry to us) and that's make we're quickly to took their life asap before something unwillingness happened.
Don't you feel guilty by doing that? they were killed then you eat them. You might feel guilty when you stole something, sad when you lost something precious, right? However, what have you done now? After you killed them, you ate them, means you've stolen their precious life for satisfying your tongue only.

How do you feel, don't you feel poor to the animal? Have you seen killing process in slaughther house (butcher)? They're afraid, they cry... But nobody care.. They have a big pain in their heart, but nobody know. We only know to get money from selling them. We only know how delicious them of being a food. We only think that they're life for us.
Please, don't be like that. They also have a life. They want to have a free life, not live in a narrow stalls like this. You can see, there's no happy feel in their faces . All only pain, fear and sadness.. :'( They only hope, please don't take my life... :(





via liveexportshame.com

Non-sense fact about being a Vegetarian

I wanna make clear some people's opinion about weird consequence for being a vegetarian.
- A vegetarian person can't have male child?
No, child, no matter female or male. It's all come from God. It's a gift and only God know about it
- A vegetarian person can't grows properly. Kinda short.
No, I'm vegetarian, and I grow properly. My height is 162 cm. That's average for asian female person. So, dunno from where this kind of opinion comes. Height is influenced by biologic (generation) factor.
- A vegetarian child can't be clever
A research told that  Eskimo people (who eat meat, etc) has shorter life than Hun Za people (who are mostly vegetarian). Albert Einstein also a vegetarian, and he isn't a stupid person. Phytagoras also a vegetarian. He was smart right? Btw, we can't count the sideway of triangle without his theorem.. :p
- Is that safe (healthy) enough for being a vegetarian?
Of course, I almost never come to a hospital for a serious disease. People who did vegetarian's life style properly has fewer risk for getting any disease than them who doesn't.
- Vegetables also creature, why we can eat that but not with animal?
hmm, kinda stupid question. Okay, you can plant vegetables right? That's mean you make a life for plants, you create it, not give the life. Plants can't move likes animals do, also actually, plant is made as food sources (Herbivore). However, Can you make a life for animal? Animals got their life from God like us. They can feel pain, sad, happy, afraid. The same feeling as us can feel too.
- How about carnivore animal, they're allowed to eat meat, why we can't?
Seriously, do you want to be like animal?? -__-

Conclusion: I'm not saying all of you must become vegetarian directly. At least try to safe animal life with being a vegetarian. Try to eat less meat twice a week first, then try to increase the times to be a vegetarian. Being a vegetarian won't bring negative effects for your life. I've proved it and I really enjoy my life for being a vegetarian. That's an easiest way to safe animal's life. Being a lovely person guys, bring happines to all the creature in the world. Because we are family. Being a vegetarian also safe the world from Global Warming



Why being Vegetarian has relation with Global Warming?
to be continued...... or visit IVU for more information



Related article:

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Why We Should Post an App Review on AppStore/ GooglePlay Using Our Native Language

Hello everyone, suddenly want to post something ;)
After, I read an article on makemac.com about why we must post review with our native language. I got an inspiration to re-post it here. However, I won't just copy-paste it right here. That's just not my style. So, for my post today. I'll post in Indonesian Language. For you who curious about to read the article, just click the change language button. Hope Google translate can do the translation well for this time :) If it doesn't work properly, don't hestitate to drop your question :)

Anyway, I have a bit information why I love to post using English language. Firstly, that's caused by English is an International language, though my grammar isn't perfect, but I still keep learning. So, for you who read my posts. If you find something wrong with my grammar. Don't hestitate to correct my mistakes. I really appreciate that.
Secondly, sometimes Google Translate gone drunk... lol I mean Google Translate doesn't translate the Indonesian based text 100% correctly, and that's make the word has mistranslation with different meaning in other languages. Those my reasons, why I like to write using English language.

FYI,currently, I'm living on Indonesia. So this article is based to Indonesian AppStore. I used android phone too, however I only use it for sending sms or calling only. ;) for this time, the main target here is AppStore only.



Oke, menurut artikel yang saya baca dari makemac.com sudah seharusnya kita meninggalkan review di AppStore setelah kamu mendownload/ membeli suatu app/lagu. Kenapa?
Sama seperti yang dikatakan di makemac, ada beberapa alasan:
- Yang pertama ini alasannya mungkin sedikit konyol, untuk mendapatkan jempol pada reviewmu. Jika kamu meninggalkan review pada AppStore, akan ada pertanyaan di bawah review yang berbunyi "Is this review helpful?" Sebuah jempol dari orang lain akan membuatmu senang atas penghargaan yang orang itu berikan untukmu, apalagi jika yang memberi jempol lebih dari 5 orang, bangga pasti rasanya... Hehehe..

- Kedua, menyelamatkan orang lain dari app penipu. Setahu saya Apple memang bisa merefund uang kita kembali jika app yang kita beli tidak sesuai dengan apa yang dideskripsikan atau bersifat menipu. Andai kata hal itu terjadi pada kita, jangan biarkan orang lain mengalami hal yang sama... Jangan bilang "Biar tahu rasa juga mereka, mengalami hal yang serupa kaya gue... wkwkwk"" Ga boleh ya :P segera tinggalkan review pada app tersebut, dan untuk kasus ini jangan tinggalkan nilai rate bintangnya saja tanpa meninggalkan sepatah kata pun pada kolom review. Hanya mengklik 1 bintang, selesai.... NO NO BIG BIG NO! Perlu diketahui rating bintang hanya akan ditampilkan jika app tersebut mendapatkan setidaknya 5 rating dari para reviewer. Kalau begitu secara tidak langsung, akan ada 4 orang lagi yang tertipu untuk bisa membuktikan bahwa app tersebut palsu. Namun jika kamu meninggalkan review bintang yang disertai kata-kata, reviewmu akan segera tampil dalam waktu kurang lebih 24 jam. Walaupun hanya ada 1... Keren kan sendirian nongkrong di bagian review... Kalo bahasa kerennya pertamax gan :P

- Membantu pengembang aplikasi, nah developer itu manusia biasa lo, manusia mana yang ga senang kalau dipuji. Tinggalkan review yang baik, jika memang gamenya kurang bagus jangan langsung dicela. Ingat tidak ada hal yang sempurna di dunia ini. Tinggalkan review dengan kata-kata yang sopan, berikan kritik dan saran yang membangun agar ke depannya game tersebut bisa diperbaiki. Jika rating app tersebut tinggi, maka penjualannya bertambah. Developer pun semakin semangat membuat games/ aplikasi baru. Kalau developer banyak dicela lalu ngambek, AppStore bakal sepi lho... :P ntar mau main apa??!!?

Nah kalo yang ini tips-tips meninggalkan review yang baik:

- Selama ini saya memang sering meninggalkan review saya di AppStore dengan bahasa Inggris, karena dulu saya pikir developer bisa membaca review dari saya #lol #konyol. Nyatanya memang bisa jika developer tersebut menswitch (merubah) region AppStorenya ke region kita Indonesia. Tentunya agak mustahil, mengingat biasanya developer-developer menggunakan US AppStore (ini juga yang mengganggu saat ada pembagian giveaway US iTunes Gift Card >o< ga punya US account ToT) kecuali untuk developer lokal.
Kesimpulannya, yang akan membaca ya sesama komunitas pengguna AppStore Indonesia juga. Jadi kalau bisa pakai saja bahasa Indonesia, amat membantu untuk orang tua yang ga ngerti bahasa Inggris kalau kalau mereka juga ingin beli di AppStore, mungkin saja mereka bingung saat membaca deskripsinya namun setelah membaca review mu mereka menjadi sangat terbantu. Lebih berjasa dari pada spiderman... *Lho?

- Kedua, tanpa menyinggung perasaan para pembaca, tolong jangan tinggalkan review hanya sepatah dua patah kata saja seperti mantab, nice, oke nih! Itu bukan review :P itu sama sekali tidak membantu menjelaskan seperti apa game/ apps yang kamu pakai. Memang menulis review tidak harus panjang, yang penting singkat padat dan menjelaskan. Jangan lupa ucapkan terima kasih pada developer yang sudah bekerja keras membuat app tersebut





Contoh review yang baik:

- Apps ini bagus, kamu akan bermain sebagai pangeran yang menyelamatkan putri yang diculik. Rintangan-rintangannya amat seru dan menantang. Grafisnya juga menarik walaupun bergaya retro. Soundnya juga enak didengar. Overall, good job developer. Waiting for the next update.


- Apps ini membantu saya menyusun daily journal, pekerjaan saya tidak lagi terbengkalai karena adanya apps ini. Fitur reminder dan alarm membuat saya selalu tepat waktu. Apalagi apps ini juga sudah terhubung ke dropbox dan google docs. Dengan harga yang cukup murah saya bisa mendapatkan aplikasi yang amat bermanfaat. Good job, developer. Thanks
UI (User Interface): 4/5
Feature: 4.5/5
Value: 4/5

Contoh review yang kurang baik:

Bagus!
(Ah... bagus di mananya?? tolong jelaskan donk... nulis review di AppStore ga perlu panjang-panjang kok... 3-4 kalimat saja sudah cukup asal menjelaskan, ga akan sampai 5 menit juga selesai)

Bah... Jelek amat nih app! 
(Tolong dijaga kata-katanya, belum tentu anda bisa membuat seperti itu. Jika anda yang menjadi developernya dan mendapat pencelaan yang kasar, apa yang anda rasakan?)

5 Bintang asal no IAP
(Developer juga manusia dan butuh makan.... Mendevelop suatu app sampai bisa masuk ke jajaran pasar AppStore bukan perkara mudah yang hanya sehari dua hari selesai. Jangan tulis di review kaya gitu donk.. kesannya ga ikhlas.. :p Developer membuat app free to play dengan alasan agar semua orang bisa ikut main, ketika terdapat IAP belilah sesekali. Jika belum terlalu mampu belilah IAP termurah untuk support developer hanya 9500 sama seperti semangkok mie ayam, apalagi jika itu developer lokal support ya. Kalau ga punya kartu kredit ya berdoa saja, kasih semangat ke developernya... XD .Dan jika ada iklan klik lah sesekali. 
Namun, jika iklannya pop ups terus menerus memang kesal sih (1 menit pop ups sampai 10x, dan pop ups di tengah2 game berlangsung dan game yang lagi kamu mainkan adalah endless runner atau tap tap rhythm... *Arrghhh... Oke, untuk kasus ini pengecualian, biasanya pada update selanjutnya developer akan mengurangi durasi ads, karena ads terlalu banyak juga mengurangi jumlah download)
Kalian tentunya ingin mobile gaming di Indonesia berkembang kan? Kalau iya lakukanlah, support dan pujian yang membangun akan menjadikan developer lebih semangat untuk berkarya )

Ih, appnya ripped off nih, bagusan juga game x daripada game ini udah gitu crash terus-terusan. Payah!
(Aduh-aduh ini lebih-lebih lagi No no no, jangan membandingkan 2 app yang ada, sekalipun terlihat mirip namun pasti ada perbedaan, pujilah yang menjadi kelebihan dari apps tersebut. Jika apps tersebut mengalami crash, tidak apa-apa ditulis dalam review, tulis juga di mana letak crashnya, (crash pada saat.... ) sehingga user lain bisa mengetahui hal itu dan ikut melaporkan dengan menggunakan App Support. Kemudian, gunakan tombol App Support yang akan menghubungkan situs resmi developer app tersebut. Gunakan fasilitas contact us pada web tersebut untuk memberitahukan keluhanmu. Developer akan sangat senang dan menghargai hal itu, mereka juga merasa terbantu sekali. Itu menunjukkan bahwa apresiasi pengguna pada app mereka cukup bagus. Selain itu biasanya laporan yang ditujukan langsung pada developer akan lebih cepat ditanggapi dan versi update (fixing the bug) muncul lebih cepat. Saya sendiri sudah mencobanya, dan hanya satu hari update perbaikan crash sudah keluar.. :)

Wah ribet amat sih, cuma tulis review aja banyak aturannya. Ngga lah, semua ini demi kebaikan kita bersama. O, ya jangan karena kelihatan ribet karena acara nulis review segala kalian jadi jailbreak iDevices kalian lho... *Kan gampang ga perlu nulis review2 segala kalo jailbreak* | *-_- ga harus segitunya lah
Ingat hargailah karya orang lain, mungkin kamu belum merasakan, tapi suatu saat kalian akan tahu pahit rasanya mengetahui karya kalian dibajak oleh orang lain.. :) 
Dan terima kasih karena sudah mau membaca postingan saya kali ini. . . Happy reviewing!

O, ya kalau kalian bingung mencari referensi games yang bagus di AppStore silakan kunjungi GameSaku
Tidak hanya iOS games saja, ada juga review untuk Android games.. Try to visit ya!
Stay tune juga buat artikel-artikel blog ini selanjutnya.... :D

Note: I'm not a developer, but I really appreciate and honor other people's works. First time I bought my iPad, the seller also jailbroken it too. I was too newbie and I didn't know how to use AppStore. The seller told me to download the apps from installous, and I agreed that. Few months later, I learned anything that related into iPad, Apple, AppStore and Jailbroken devices properly, and then I knew that's not good to jaibroken a device also illegal too. So, I decided to upgrade my iOS into iOS 5.1 at that time, n began to buy the apps from AppStore and never think to jailbreak my device again. For you who has jailbroken your devices, it's your decision and up to you to jailbreak your devices or not, but at least keep buying the apps from AppStore for supporting the developer, use the installous for trying an app only.